


Leave my body with permanent marks

by weepingnaiad



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bad reaction to poison gas, By unnamed villains, Community: cottoncandy_bingo, Community: hc_bingo, Community: trope_bingo, F/M, Gen, Get Together, Hallucinating, Huddling For Warmth, Hurt/Comfort, Our fearless agents are captured, They are all SO young, Trope Bingo Round 3, Who never appear in this story, pre-Agents of SHIELD, pre-avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 22:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1486576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weepingnaiad/pseuds/weepingnaiad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary:</b> When Phil wakes, he's disoriented, his head spinning, stomach trying to climb its way out of his throat, and he's naked.  Too bad he's not alone and, even worse, finds himself handcuffed to Agent Melinda May.  Did he mention that he's naked?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leave my body with permanent marks

**Author's Note:**

> This turned ridiculously fluffy, but I'm not sorry. Also, the last scene is for you, Clio.
> 
> The title is taken from Tracy Chapman's "In the Dark", suggested to me by the incredible hitlikehammers. Thank you, doll!

Phil Coulson jerks into consciousness, awareness returning slowly. He wills his body to stillness to soothe the throbbing in his head and the nausea that threatens. Both indicate a concussion, though the symptoms feel more pronounced than usual. He keeps his eyes closed to ease the tension since there's no use fighting against the blindfold wrapped around his head.

He begins a careful assessment of his position, keeps his breathing slow and even while he takes stock. He's naked but for his underwear and is sitting on a cold, damp floor. It's probably concrete but his legs are too numb to provide more details than he's already gleaned. His shoulders throb where they've been pulled behind him for too long and his wrists sting. The cold biting into them register as cuffs and then he feels his hands and arms jerked back, pulling against his over strained shoulders. He gasps aloud, "Fuck!" and is met with the unmistakable sounds of someone retching behind him.

"May?" he huffs out quietly despite the pain.

The only answer is a quiet groan and shifting, more pulling and then there's relief as May presses back against him. Phil sags into the warmth.

He gets an elbow in the ribs and grunts.

"Coulson?" Melinda asks, her voice barely audible and rough.

"Yeah," he answers trying to shift to stretch his legs out. "You got eyes?" he asks, voice equally quiet.

Instead of answering, Melinda taps her reply on his wrist. He groans, tries to focus, but still misses most of her message. He thinks she's telling him how bad off she is and he taps back his own status. It's unwieldy and slow, but it prevents whoever captured them from knowing how affected they are from whatever incapacitated them so badly.

Phil has the good sense not to attempt to coddle Melinda, but he's still worried. She's sagged against him, her breathing rapid and shallow and she's clearly chilled. When he asks her status again, he bites back a sigh. She's not improving and even worse she thinks she might have begun to hallucinate. If that's the case, he can't imagine how she's still cogent enough to tap out her answers.

When she goes limp against his back, he swears. This is his first op as the senior agent and he'll be damned if he loses Melinda to some experimental gas on his watch.

"May!" he barks.

She jerks at his back, stifles a cry. He feels her body jerk, knows she's trying not to vomit again.

"Fuck this," he growls. He moves his fingers trying to get leverage on his own cuffs, see if there's a possibility of getting his hand out of one of them. If he dislocates his left thumb, he might be able to get his hand out. Maybe. The odds aren't good with Phil's 'delicate' wrists and 'bear' hands. Nick has given him so much grief over that ratio in the past that Phil doubts this can work, but he has to do something.

"Let me," May says. At least Phil thinks that's what she said. He's too confused and distracted to be certain and her words are mumbled and indistinct.

He feels his wrists jerk, hears a crunch that makes him wince, then greenish light floods his eyes as the blindfold slides up and off.

"You look like shit," May says in that deadpan voice she's got nailed down.

"Missed my salon appointment. Can you get the cuffs off us?"

Now that he can see, he glances around the empty room. He doesn't detect any cameras, but there are some pretty high and dim corners and Phil is not at his best. But there is a barred window up high that's letting in feeble sunshine.

May leans over to vomit again making Phil worry. The effects of the gas are wearing off for him. He's thinking more clearly, the nausea is abating, but May is starting to shiver and her skin is clammy.

She wipes her mouth and turns back to the cuffs, but fumbles at them ineffectively. 

"Stop," he orders.

She glares at him, her eyes wide and dark in the dim light. Her pupils are blown and there's a flush across her cheeks. She ignores him and tries to open the cuffs again. He tugs his wrists away from her. "No. Stop. Whatever was in that trap, it's still affecting you."

"Really?" she hisses. "Think I don't know that?"

"May, we'll just have to move like this."

"Back to back?"

"No." He spins and they're face to face, almost like lovers, close and naked. And yeah they'd taken May's bra, too. So much for anything to open the cuffs with. "On three we're going to stand."

"What? Why?"

"I need to get some feeling back in my legs before I attempt this or I'm going to land on my face and drag you down with me."

They make it upright and Phil walks them to a wall. They make a slow circuit with Phil's shoulder brushing the wall the entire time. The door is thick metal, no visible window or hinges. Whoever made this cell had no intention of letting their captives escape. He stops beside the door. It's the warmest spot, so he presses his back to the corner and begins to slide down.

"What the hell?" May growls, but follows him down. "Couldn't you warn me?"

"We're not getting out of here. The sun won't stay up forever and it's only going to get colder. I think you've got a fever so we're going to settle here and use the walls and body heat to keep us warm while we wait."

"Wait for what? Those assholes to come back?"

Phil shakes his head, but doesn't answer right away. He's too busy settling May on his lap which is damn hard to do without both hands. "Fuck!" she swears and he feels her abdomen jitter, knows that's she's fighting the urge to vomit. "This is going to be a long fuckin' wait," she rasps, voice hoarse.

"Not too long," he murmurs, lips pressing against her ear. "I activated my emergency beacon in that room. S.H.I.E.L.D.'ll find us."

"Asshole. You couldn't have said that earlier?"

Phil shrugs as best he can.

"You do realize it'll be Nick coming for us, don't you?"

"Well, shit. He's never gonna let up after this."

"Unless…" her voice trails off and Phil looks at her, eyebrow raised in question.

"Unless we let him believe this pushed us together."

Phil grins then, sharp to match the glint in May's eyes. "You gonna break my heart? Or am I a cheating asshole?"

She barks out a quick laugh, then whimpers and jerks away. Phil winces and frowns. "Get here fast, Nick, dammit," he whispers.

They huddle together as the sun sets and the feeble light disappears, throwing the room into complete darkness. It grows colder and May begins shivering almost constantly. She goes limp against Phil at some point and he's about to decide that was for the best when her whole body jerks and she cries out. Suddenly she's pulling away, trying to fight him and Phil can't even defend himself. But she's disoriented, crying out in Mandarin, indistinct, guttural words that Phil can't make sense of, and Phil manages to roll over on her. He presses her into the cold concrete floor and she sags, her eyes flying open. It's too dark to see much, but he can hear her labored breathing and feel her heart's rapid beat. He starts up a soothing litany of nonsense, drags them back to their corner which has gone cold in that short time. And, what's worse, Phil began to sweat while they wrestled so now the chill is creeping into _his_ bones. Their backup better get here soon.

Phil loses track of time as he fights to stay awake and on guard. May alternates between terrifying incoherence where she's fighting demons in her drugged mind and utter stillness. Those last instances worry Phil the most. When she goes limp like that he has to check that she hasn't stopped breathing.

Somewhere along the way, Phil must have dozed off. He jerks awake as May starts another episode. This one is more intense and goes on far longer than any that came before. She's shaking violently, her voice wrecked from crying out. Phil's touch and voice send her into a paroxysm of terror. She scuttles away, confused when she's stopped by the handcuff that still partially binds them.

"May?" Phil whispers. But she doesn't react except to start clawing at the cuff as she calls Phil monster and worse.

"Melinda? Please? You know me. It's _Phil._ I swear help's coming." He's begging her to awake from her delusion, but nothing helps. He hates to do it, but he has to restrain her before she does serious damage to herself. When she stops struggling, her body going limp as the sleeper hold does its job, Phil curses. "Goddammit! Where the fuck is our extraction?"

The wall shudders at that moment and Phil laughs at the timing.

When the door flies open and Nick storms in, Phil shakes his head. "Took you fuckin' long enough!" He doesn't realize he's been carding his fingers through May's hair as he cradles her slack form.

Nick blinks down at them. He doesn't move until Maria bursts in. "Shit! What happened?"

"Drugged. May had a bad reaction."

Maria holsters her sidearm and bends down. She's gentle with May, but Phil's arms tighten reflexively. Maria glances up at him. "I won't hurt her. I promise."

Phil swallows and nods, giving permission.

"She's in a bad way. We need medical." Glancing up at Nick, she barks out, "Well, what are you waiting for? Get on it, boss man!"

Maria's tone finally breaks the bands that had been squeezing Phil's chest. A laugh gusts out as he wheezes, "Missed you."

"Missed you, too, Phil. Can you walk?"

He nods.

"Nick can carry Melinda." When Phil is about to protest, Maria continues. "You're in no state and we need to hurry." She's pretty hard to argue with on a good day and Phil's definitely not having a good day.

~~*~~

Phil spends entirely too long in medical. By the time the docs agree that he's suffering no more ill effects from the gas, he's ready to climb the walls. Nick's visit where he says little except a curiously quiet, "We need to talk" unnerves Phil even more.

If he wonders where Maria has been he stops wondering when she shows up with a wheelchair and Phil's discharge papers. He glares at the chair, but Maria's blocking the door with her face set in that 'try me' glare so he doesn't dare do anything except settle into it without argument. She pats his shoulder and starts wheeling him out.

"I know the chair's required, but I can make my own way home," Phil protests when Nick pulls up to the curb in a S.H.I.E.L.D. issue sedan.

"Like hell!" Nick snorts.

Phil absolutely does not sway as he stands. And he only stumbles as he gets into the backseat of the car because of the uneven pavement.

Maria closes the door and gives a short wave as Nick guns the engine and drives off.

"So you drew the short straw?"

"Nope." Nick's conversation continues in single syllable responses until Phil finally gives it up. He's more tired than he realized.

His head lolls against the window, eyes barely tracking the passing scenery until a thought comes to him. "Hey, Nick. How's Agent May?"

"She's back to Agent May in your head now?"

"What the hell?"

"Just checking. Maria demanded that I grill you about your intentions."

"What?"

"You were mighty protective of May when we blasted that cell open. Thought you were going to bite my head off if I looked at her twice."

Phil swallows, closes his eyes. "That was just that damned gas."

"You keep telling yourself that, Cheese."

~~*~~

So Phil avoids Medical for another twelve hours. But, in the end, he buys a bouquet of daisies and shows up to Melinda's room ten minutes before visiting hours are over.

Her eyes snap open the instant his knuckles hit the ajar door. 

"Can I come in?"

She gives him a short nod so he steps into the room with the flowers held in front of him like a shield.

"Those for me?" Melinda asks, a small, barely there smile on her lips.

"Oh! Um, yeah. Here." He thrusts the flowers out and Melinda takes them, presses her face into the colorful blooms before she looks up at him.

"Thanks," she says and he knows she means for more than the flowers.

He swallows and does not fidget under her intense scrutiny. He knows it's crazy to feel like he's being interrogated, even worse to feel like he's an idiot teen with hormones running rampant through his blood, but something changed in that cell. The thought of Melinda's bare flesh pressed against his, the worry and fear that came with that vulnerability; that's kept him on edge, tense, unable to process what happened and he knows why. Or thinks he does.

"Spit it out, Coulson," May says and Phil actually looks at her. Her eyes are heavy-lidded and she's pale, the bed making her look far smaller than she is, but she's not vulnerable, absolutely does not need his protection from night terrors. She doesn't need it, but he wants to give it.

Phil Coulson is not a coward nor does he run from confrontation. But usually the words come easier than this.

"Phil?" she calls, softly.

"Would you… when you're out… can I take you for dinner… sometime?" he asks, words halting and so ridiculously unlike himself that he'd laugh if he could take a breath.

She smiles. It's not wide and there's no teeth showing. It's just a little crook of her lips, but her eyes are no longer hazy and there's even some color in her cheeks as she answers, "I'd like that. A lot."

"Good. Great!" Phil says, confident enough to reach for her hand and stroke his fingertips over the back.

"Visiting hours are over," a nurse says through the door. His tone is light, but he's not moving away from the doorway until Phil moves to follow.

"Um, guess I better get out of here."

"See you tomorrow?" she asks and Phil nods. He gives her hand a squeeze and leaves. Even under the nurse's watchful gaze, he whistles as he walks away.

~~*~~

Nick pushes away from the wall as Phil leaves, but he never looks back and Maria's hand on Nick's arm stops him from calling Phil back.

"Guess you were right."

"I'm always right," Maria says. "How come you never bring _me_ flowers?" she asks as they follow Phil a few moments later.

Nick snorts. "Like flowers would have convinced you of anything."

Maria bumps shoulders with Nick and links their hands after the elevator doors close. "Might have convinced me you were half-crazy."

"Only half?" Nick squeezes her fingers and grins. "Gonna be fun razzing them."

"I so cannot wait to give them back all their shit--"

"And more," he interrupts.

"And more," she agrees. "Buy me dinner and we'll plot?"

"I knew there was a reason I fell for you."

"Because I'm devious like you?"

"Because you don't scheme on an empty stomach."

Maria's laughter eases the last of his worry over his team, his friends. Everything's back to normal and looking up. What could possibly go wrong?

**Author's Note:**

>  **Beta:** My greatest gratitude goes to abigail89's awesome beta skills. Thank you, m'dear! As ever, I couldn't have done this without you! If you do see errors, they're all on me because I fiddle after she looked through it.
> 
>  **A/N:** This satisfies my trope_bingo square: _handcuffed/bound together,_ my hurt-comfort bingo square: _cuddling for warmth,_ and my cotton candy bingo square: _scared._
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** These are Marvel and Whedon and ABC's characters used in the spirit of creative commons. I promise to return them with smiles on.


End file.
